Glorious Bodnant Garden

15 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, North Wales

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Bodnant Garden laburnum arch, National Trust

As dedicated as I am to ‘real’ nature, even I can’t resist the temptation to stray occasionally into the more contrived, cultivated and colourful world of a beautiful garden. A couple of weeks ago, on a glorious sunny and warm day, I persuaded my daughter to accompany me on a stately visit to nearby Bodnant Garden. She agreed as soon as I mentioned that I’d treat her to lunch.

I ‘belong’ to the National Trust and do visit this particularly lovely woodland garden occasionally, each time wondering why I don’t go more often. I was particularly keen to go now to see the laburnum arch which is one of Bodnant’s claims to fame, but although beginning to show colour it perhaps needed another week or so to reach its peak. But by way of compensation, the azaleas and rhododendrons and other planted beds were absolutely stunning. Words are unnecessary, the photographs speak for themselves, so here is some of what we saw.

The view walking down from the car park

We could see that despite it being a Monday, the car park was very full and there were coaches too. We decided to have lunch before going into the gardens so we could look around in a leisurely fashion without worrying there’d be nothing left. I had the ploughman’s, daughter the quiche. Very nice too.

Daughter letting everyone know we’d arrived safely and that she wants a tree like this one

Big fat poppy bud

Poppies that don’t look real

Azaleas

There’s something about yellow flowers against a blue sky

This is the wildflower meadow with an Oak tree

130603TGNT-Bodnant Gardens 08-Beautiful bells

Beautiful peachy-pink bells

130603TGNT-Bodnant Gardens 11-Azaleas, bright green maple, eucalyptus & purple tree

A lovely composition of azaleas, vivid green maple, eucalyptus and a purple-leaved tree

More vibrant colours contrasted with white

An bee look-alike seeking nectar

So many shades of pink in one flower

As you walk down towards the woodland dell there is a flower bed that has species of flowers resembling wild ones but exaggerated. Even the Welsh poppies were larger and perfectly formed.

Welsh poppies

This looks a bit like a dead-nettle, but it’s bigger

The ‘dead-nettle’ look-alike has a fascinating flower

This plant resembled Cow-Parsley, but with a purple rinse

A last magnolia

130603TGNT-Bodnant Gardens 21-A woodland path in dappled shade

A tempting wood path in dappled shade

Looking down into the dell; a patchwork of greens with accents of colour

A simple, graceful Solomon’s Seal

Pretty white bells

We sat on a bench at the side of the stream for a while to have a chat (on the phone) and wish penblwydd hapus (happy birthday) to number 2 son who lives and works in London and used to speak Welsh.

A tranquil view of the stream runnning through the dell

I was fascinated by some crazy flies zooming back and forth over the water. They all seemed to be racing to a particular point, moving so fast they left a blurry trail, then they turned round and zoomed back again, repeated that a few times then broke up into a cloud for a few seconds before doing it again. They were quite large insects, I thought perhaps mayflies, but can they move that fast? I always thought they were a bit airy-fairy, float through the air-ish. They kept me entertained for ages whatever they were.

I was fascinated by crazy flies over the water. Lush Hostas, why don’t the slugs eat them?

Impressive fern

Just the kind of hilly bank we’d have rolled down as kids. Tempting though…

I think this picture of people on the bridge is my favourite of the day. They look so small

Daughter ran over the stepping stones to video me crossing. She was hoping for a 'you've been framed' opportunity

Daughter ran over the stepping stones to video me crossing behind her. She was hoping for a ‘you’ve been framed’ opportunity. Ha! No chance.

The rhododendrons are almost over and petals cover the ground beneath them

The rhododendrons are almost over and their petals were thick on the ground

Aah

A red carpet

There were even petals in the stream

I loved this starry deep blue periwinkle

Flowers on a carousel

Even the best people have a daisy lawn these days

Bluebells are almost at the end of their flowering

And a last view upstream before heading off to find the laburnum arch.

The laburnum arch, not quite at its best but you can see the potential

The laburnum arch, not quite at its best, but still pretty impressive

I’ve just checked the website for Bodnant and it says the arch is in full bloom now. Apparently it is so famous that people from all over the world go to see it. I thought it was busy there today.

Little Orme in early June

14 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Little Orme, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 6 Comments

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alexanders, ash tree, pink wildflowers, robin's pincushion gall wasp, sea campion, walk on the Little Orme, white wildflowers, wild thyme, wildflowers of the Little Orme

I made Wild Cabbages the main floral event of my recent walk on the Little Orme, giving them a post of their own, simply because they are not an everyday plant and because the number of plants there are and the profusion of their flowers this year would have made them difficult to miss. But of course there was much more to see there.

June 4th

As late spring slips into early summer there is a blending of fading and fresh flowers and foliage. My first glimpse of the fresh was a lovely clump, (an inelegant word to use to describe such delicate flowers), of Greater Stitchwort. They were tucked tightly against a tangle of bramble, using it to support their rather weak, brittle stems.

Greater Stitchwort-Stellaria holostea

On the edge of the cliff there is a smattering of Thrift and some Sea Campion, both with fading flowers. I searched for a while to find Thrift that still looked fairly fresh, but find being able to see the seeds forming within the ‘bladders’ of the Sea Campion interesting.

Thrift and Sea Campion on a scree slope at the bottom of a cliff wall

Thrift-Armeria maritima

A fairly fresh flower of Sea Campion-Silene vulgaris ssp. maritima

Sea Campion-Silene vulgaris ssp. maritima-seed developing

The most prolific wildflower here currently is Bird’s Foot Trefoil, which will carry on throughout the summer, providing nourishment for a whole host of fauna; a veritable live food manufacturing plant that looks beautiful too. I sat on a rock near this spot gazing at the view, contemplating life and enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon sun.

What could be prettier? Golden Bird’s-foot Trefoil against a background of blue sea and sky

There was a lot of Cormorant traffic travelling to and fro the tip of the headland, some in small groups, others alone. There are a large number of them here and their outlines can often be seen against the sky, the birds perched at regular intervals down the rock descending to the sea.

Turning back from the cliff I thought I might walk up the steep grass incline to the top of the hill, but I got halfway up and decided it might be a bit late in the day for rambling around up there, so stopped to take a photograph and walked down again.

Ash tree with a view of Rhos-on-Sea and beyond

Ash tree with a view across Penrhyn Bay to Rhos-on-Sea and Colwyn bay beyond

Upholding my promise to myself to pay more attention to Ash trees I had already looked at a couple of small ones before taking this photograph. All, including this one, were less fully-leaved than those inland and all had leaves that were brown and shrivelled around their edges. I was alarmed when I first noticed that, but don’t think it’s anything more sinister than the leaves being ‘burned’ by the very cold and salt-laden winds they have been subjected to this whilst young and tender. I hope that’s all it is, there are a lot of Ash trees on the site of the Little Orme and their loss would be significant.

A smaller, younger Ash tree had sparse foliage and ‘burnt’ leaves

I walked back following the pathway at the base of the towering rock face, leaving the surfaced track to search the grass at its side for any smaller, less showy wildflowers. There was plenty more Bird’s-foot Trefoil with a few little bumblebees rushing around hunting for nectar and little patches of Wild Thyme, just beginning to open. There were quite a few little flowers, yellow with pink-flushed buds, that looked similar to Cat’s Ear, but not quite, so more research needed there.

A small patch of newly-opened Wild Thyme

I carried on walking, diverting over to the big patch of cabbages to take photographs as seen in previous post, following the edge of the deeper quarried-out bit (all of the section of the Little Orme I have been describing above is flat as a result of quarrying activity). Where the edge of this meets the cliff wall the only way to continue is to scramble down a rocky slope. If you ever find yourself doing this, be careful as hundreds of pairs of feet taking this way down, or up, over the years have worn the exposed rock to a shiny smoothness that can be quite slippery, even when dry.

The area at the bottom of the slope has a completely different character, more along the lines of an urban wasteland than a coastal clifftop. It does back onto houses and there is an access path in from the residential area, so the ground was probably disturbed during the building process. It’s not a very large area and can appear a bit scruffy, but there is always something to see here. There’s lots of Valerian flowering now, but the plant that has gone a bit crazy and is threatening to dominate all, is Alexanders. According to Richard Mabey in his brilliant book ‘Weeds’, this Roman introduction to Great Britain has apparently nationally fallen from grace recently, having suddenly altered its demeanor from that of well-behaved and fondly thought-of immigrant edible wildflower, to that of a rampant weed.

Alexanders lines the pathway for several metres

Alexanders – Smyrnium olustrum ,lines the pathway for several metres

Alexanders is one of the earliest plants to put out greenery in the early spring and most of the plants here are past their best. A stately and attractive all-over yellow-green coloured plant, it was introduced here by the Romans for use as a pot-herb, having a mild celery flavour. Its culinary use continued for hundreds of years until it was replaced by cultivated celery. Perhaps this is a plant we should go back to foraging to help keep it under control rather than destroy it.

Alexanders is going to seed now, but there are still flowers

While I was prowling around the Alexanders plants I spotted a wild rose shrub in their midst and suddenly made a mental connection with a blog post from last August, which included a bit about the Robin’s Pincushion galls that appear on these plants. I mentioned in it that while the completed growth begins as bright red in colour, over the months they fade to a dark red-brown before the new adult wasps emerge in the spring and thought I’d try to find one. I remembered where the gall I photographed then was located, but thought I’d have a quick look at this one on the way to it. As luck would have it, there was a nice fat dark gall there too. As I got close with the camera, even more luck – there were a number of tiny little wasps crawling around on the gall and flying on and off, back and forth between it and rose leaves just a few centimetres away.

Dry Robin’s Pincushion with little wasps on the surface

I am not claiming that these are the wasps, scientific name, Diplolepsis rosae, that cause the growth of the gall to house their larvae. Having looked at other people’s images, I rather think that although the colouration is similar, the abdomens of the ones in my pictures are more elongated and tapered than those in images of the ‘right’ one. I thought perhaps the insects were just emerging from the gall, but that also didn’t help as I learnt that the original larvae are subject to parasitism by other species of wasp and they in turn may be got at by yet another species. They may have just been seeking prey, or maybe somewhere to locate their own eggs, or even just roosting for the night. I am sure they are some species of wasp though. If anyone can help with identification I’d be delighted.

Tiny wasp from gall, resting on a nearby rose leaf

Wasp from gall, resting on a nearby rose leaf. Size increased many times, these insects were really tiny.

It was almost half-past six by the time I thought I should be getting home and the sun was beginning to sink behind the mass of the headland. It was creating a lovely glowing effect on the landscape and casting an interesting light upon a beautiful patch of buttercups that had pretty White Campion growing up through it.

130604TGNR- White Campion & Buttercups - Little Orme, North Wales

Golden yellow buttercups and white campion

Little Orme in the golden early evening

Spot the ‘greens’ on the Little Orme, but please don’t eat them!

10 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Little Orme, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve, Wildflowers of Wales

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brassica olaracea, Little Orme, wild cabbage

The Little Orme is close in distance to Bryn Euryn, but quite different in character, so a walk around there can add a host of different flora species within the space of half-an-hour or so; it also has its specialty plants and I set off to find at least one of them on a late afternoon last week.

Right now while the rocks of the Bryn are splashed gold with dainty rockroses, the Little Orme has its yellow-flowered cabbages. This year, rather a lot of them and not just any old cabbage, but the rather rare Wild Cabbage Brassica oleracea.

12/06/04-Wild Cabbage-Brassica olearacea at the base of a cliff, Little Orme

The Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), also sometimes known as Sea Cabbage, is regarded as scarce by botanists as it is found in only 100 x10km squares in the UK. Where it does occur, the plant is found on maritime cliffs, usually of limestone or chalk, typically growing on or near to cliff tops or cliff bases, often on ledges containing other mixed herb communities. The Little Orme and Great Orme in North Wales and the Gower Peninsular in South Wales are strongholds of the plant.

A tall red cliff-face on the Little Orme which has wild cabbage plants growing on ledges almost from top to bottom

Brassica oleracea is a biennial, sometimes perennial, relatively short-lived (20 years), evergreen plant that can withstand frost. Plants can grow to a height of 1.2m (4ft), but that can vary, as can the size and to an extent, the shape of the leaves. It is in flower from May to August, and the seeds ripen from Jul to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by a range of insects, including bees and hoverflies; the plant is self-fertile.

Flowers of the wild cabbage

It is probable that the Wild Cabbage, which occurs widely around the Mediterranean, is not a true native to Britain and that it was yet another introduction made by the Romans and is the forebear to our more robust modern cultivated cabbages.

Leaf of Wild Cabbage

I have seen sites advocating foraging wild cabbage as an edible wild plant, which of course it is, but while the plant itself does not have any specific legal protection under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended), most of the locations where it’s found along the North Wales Coast are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interests. Damaging, uprooting or removing the plant either deliberately or recklessly could be regarded as a criminal act, so perhaps not a good idea to chance it.

A wild cabbage plant growing on a more exposed grassy cliff of the Little Orme (Sept 2011). This was one of my first sightings (and photographs) of the species.

I took this photograph around the middle of last May (2012), before the flowers opened

Dare we cast a clout now May is out?

09 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Wildflowers of Wales

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Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, buff-tailed bumblebee, germander speedwell, grey-green lichen hanging from tree, hairy rock cress, hawthorn in flower, may blossom, salad burnet, wildflowers of Bryn Euryn

The last day of May was overcast and cool but I wanted to go back to the Bryn to photograph a plant I had spotted there on the rocky cliffs amongst the rockroses but forgot about until I got home. I took a different route up to the top today, passing through the grassy meadow area to see what I could find there.

Cow parsley -Anthriscus sylvestris

A first bloom of Common Vetch-Vicia sativa

There’s a lot of Ribwort Plantain, whose flowerheads I find fascinating, every one seems slightly different to the other.

Ribwort Plantain flowerhead

The star of the flower show today was definitely the May, the blossom of the Hawthorn. Perhaps we can all ‘cast a clout’, now that May is out, both the blossom and the month.

A beautiful spray of May blossom, or Hawthorn, looks like a bridal bouquet

Close to where I stopped to photograph the May blossom I noticed the more unusual Salad Burnet plant. This is one of those plants that is very easy to overlook as it seems to really blend in to its surroundings, but once you have it in your mind’s eye you then notice them in other places.

Salad Burnet-Sanguisorba minor

The leaves are very pretty, and as the plant’s name suggests, are edible.

Salad Burnet has very pretty, pinnate leaves

The Oak trees are fresh-coloured and in just about full leaf now.

Oak tree

Fresh new oak leaves

On a rocky outcrop there were low-growing common rockroses, bird’s foot trefoil, kidney vetch, almost over but attracting the attention of a number of little ginger-headed bumblebees, small patches of wild thyme and taller-growing hawksbit flowers.

Wild Thyme growing with Common Rockrose

I wasn’t able to get a particularly good photograph of a bee, but I liked the lichen-covered rock in this one.

A small ginger bumblebee on Kidney Vetch

The patch of bird’s-foot trefoil had obligingly placed itself near the edge of a rock, so taking an eye-level picture was a nice option. I didn’t notice the ‘Cuckoo-spit’ until I looked at the photograph. I’d forgotten about Cuckoo-spit. I must remind myself what generates it, some kind of thrip, I think.

Bird’s-foot Trefoil with Cuckoo Spit

Hawksbit against limestone rock

There seem to be masses of the beautiful blue Germander Speedwell here this year, I don’t remember it being this prolific before.

Germander Speedwell-Veronica chamaedrys

I finally got up and around to where the plant I had come to find was located; probably not as exciting as you’d expected, but I was pleased to find it. The plant is Hairy Rock Cress, an under-stated little plant with tiny white flowers like most members of the cress family, not at all showy like its golden-bloomed neighbours, but none the less interesting. Even though it’s flower’s are almost over and it’s going to seed.

Hairy Rock Cress. Also in picture are kidney vetch, salad burnet & rockrose

The scientific name for Rockrose, helianthemum, means sun-flower. They don’t bother to open up on dull or damp days, particularly the little blooms of the Hoary Rockrose.

Flowers of Hoary Rockrose close on dull, sunless days

It was getting quite late on now, but there was one more distraction to waylay me before heading back down the hill. A Mistle Thrush was out hunting on the path around the edge of the rocks, which I had to stay and watch as I’d not seen one here before. When it flew off with its gatherings I took a photograph of the top of a lovely Ash tree which has houses of Rhos-on-Sea below and peeking through its leaves.

Ash tree on Bryn Euryn, Rhos-on-Sea behind

On the way down through the woods I spotted some very pretty Oak Moss lichen hanging from some twiggy branches; I don’t know why I’ve not noticed it before, there’s quite a lot of it.

Oak Moss lichen- Usnea florida

Almost at the bottom of the hill, I couldn’t resist taking a final picture of a Buff-tailed Bumblebee that was either excavating a hole or looking for an existing one to spend the night in.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee making or seeking a hole

Bryn Euryn walk continued: Part 3

08 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Local Nature Reserves, Nature of Wales, Wildflowers of Wales

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Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, cowslip, early purple orchid, orchis mascula, primula veris, rhos on sea, views from Bryn Euryn, wildflowers of Bryn Euryn

The views from the Bryn are always worth the steep climb up to the top and change according to the season, the weather and the time of day. The southerly side overlooks part of Rhos-on-Sea and part of Colwyn Bay town, divided by the duel-carriageway of the A55, whose traffic noise can be loud and rather intrusive, so not the spot to seek peace and quiet. Beyond is Colwyn Bay and inland a patchwork of woodlands, golden gorse and neat farmed fields set upon rolling hillsides sloping around and down to the Conwy river and estuary.

Panoramic view from the south of the summit of Bryn Euryn

The gorgeous view from the south side of Bryn Euryn (click to enlarge)

I was heading now towards the true summit, where the not-too-beautiful triangulation (trig) point marks the highest point.

The trig point on the summit of Bryn Euryn looking south-south-easterly (ish)

The trig point on the summit of Bryn Euryn looking south to south-easterly (ish)

Last year there was an impressive patch of at least a hundred Early Purple Orchids on the approaching grassy slope (behind the other side of the rocky bit in the photograph), but this year although there are still a good number there are a lot less. Having said that, those I saw are beautiful specimens, of good height and their stems thick with flowers. The success of Orchids is affected by seasonal weather, they are affected by drought, numbers may vary even in areas they otherwise frequent, which is part of their allure of course.Their less than predictable appearance and their wonderfully exotic beauty combine to make each discovery just as exciting as it was last year or the year before.

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I can still remember the excitement of discovering my first Early Purple Orchid, growing exactly where it should be, on the floor of the old woodland next to our house. I was probably about aged ten at the time and had no idea what it was, but it looked very special to me and I couldn’t wait to look it up in my ‘Observer’s Book of Wild Flowers’, which I still treasure because I love the descriptions written by the lady author of the book. I would quote it here but it’s currently in a box in a storage unit in Spain, so I’ll have to manage without for now.

Early Purple Orchid – Orchis mascula

Early Purple Orchids-Orchis mascula

In flower from April to June, the Early Purple Orchid is a species of old broadleaved woodlands, where they are generally widespread, but they also occur in rich grasslands, on road verges, on limestone pavement and on heathy ground in the South and West of the British Isles.

‘Therewith fantastic garlands did she make

Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples

That liberal shepherds give a grosser name’

But our cull-cold maids do dead-men’s fingers call them’.

It is claimed that when William Shakespeare wrote those lines in Hamlet, his ‘long purples’ referred to the Early-purple Orchid. The lines were spoken by Gertrude and referred to the coronet which Ophelia was wearing when she drowned.

A short-medium perennial that can reach 40cm, the stem is also often flushed with purple. There are usually 3-5 unstalked basal leaves, oblong in shape, pointed, parallel-veined and glossy green blotched with purple.

Flower colour can vary in shade from quite a dark purplish-red to pink or even white and are distributed in dense or loose spikes of between 10-30 flowers. Each flower has a narrow purple bract, purplish-grey ovary, three sepals and three petals.

Flowers of Early Purple Orchid

Side sepals spread backwards, upper one joins to the upper two petals to form a hood; lower petal forms tri-lobed spurred crimson-dotted lip, 8-12mm long. At the back of the flower one unstalked anther holds two pollen masses on stalks that adhere to heads of visiting insects for cross-pollination; below the anther the stigma surface receives pollen brought from other flowers.

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A few minutes taking in the view more or less east towards the mountains on the edge of Snowdonia , then onwards and downwards via the grassy slope on the north side of the hill.

The A55 snakes towards the Conwy Estuary with view of Snowdonia beyond

The A55 snakes towards the Conwy River & Estuary with views of Snowdonia beyond

The rough grassy area was, as I’d hoped, generously sprinkled with Cowslips. Not as showy as the Orchids or as bright as the Rockroses, but with a special understated beauty of their own. I was slightly concerned I may have missed them at their best as they are flowers I associate more with late April-early May, but thanks to the late start to Spring this year I caught them just in time before they start to ‘go over’.

A field full of Cowslips, their heads held aloft on stiff stems were dancing in the wind like little flags

Cowslip -Primula veris

I have a great affection for Cowslips and seeing them growing in numbers in a grassy meadow takes me back to my childhood in an instant. In Northamptonshire, where I grew up in the 50s and 60s, lovely golden-yellow cowslips were numerous, particularly in the damper grass meadows grazed by cows. One of life’s little treats back in the day was to pull a flower from its little green sack and suck the nectar from the base of the tube. And before it became necessary to ban the picking of wild flowers, we used to pick bunches of them for the house as they have nice long stems and looked lovely in a jam jar on the kitchen windowsill. We picked them to add to garlands and to decorate the ‘throne’ for the May Queen during our school’s Mayday celebrations. Occasionally we even got to pick lots of them to be made into Cowslip wine.

Cowslip- Primula veris

I assure you though, it wasn’t our picking that caused the Cowslip’s serious decline, we couldn’t possibly have picked even all of those growing in a single field. It had much more to do with the rise of intensive farming and old grassland being ploughed over to create more space for growing other crops.

Thankfully the plant’s numbers are on the rise again, partly due to raised awareness but probably owing more to the sowing of seed on roadside verges and in wildflower meadows. So once again the Cowslip can raise its graceful nodding heads above the grass blades and be counted in generous numbers once again. I won’t be picking any though, just taking photographs.

The leaves of the Cowslip are wrinkly and hairy and form a basal rosette, similar to those of the Primrose.

The yellow-orange flowers (8-15mm) are held in a one-sided umbel which is borne on a softly hairy, sturdy stem. The individual flowers are comprised of five joined petals, each flower bearing orange spots in the centre, and are deliciously scented.

Cowslips and plaintains

A final gaze at the view from here over the tops of the trees below, across the golf course to Penrhyn Bay and on the horizon the Little Orme skirted on its left side by the road to Llandudno climbing Penrhyn Hill.

View from the north side of Bryn Euryn

It’s World Environment Day (apparently)

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Nature of Wales

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united nations environment programme, world environment day

I interrupt my walk report to ask did anyone out there know it was World Environment Day? I just read it on a blog written by a group of students who are trying to save an ancient forest, pretty much on their own by the sound of things, who wished me a happy one; World Environment Day that is. This is the same place I learned it was World Sparrow Day a few weeks back, as it happens. Their blog and the cause are well worth hearing about by the way: we think we have problems with developers here, but not on the scale they are dealing with. The blog is titled Save Mangar Bani – Aravalli’s Ancient Forest Grove. Here’s the link http://mangarbani.wordpress.com

Anyway, back to World Environment Day and good old Wikipaedia who do know about it:

World Environment Day (‘WED’) is celebrated every year on 5 June to raise global awareness of the need to take positive environmental action. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

It was the day that United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was from 5–16 June 1972. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. The first World Environment Day was in 1973. World Environment Day is hosted every year by a different city with a different theme and is commemorated with an international exposition in the week of 5 June. World Environment Day is in spring in the Northern Hemisphere and fall in the Southern Hemisphere.

Theme 2013

The 2013 theme for World Environment Day is Think.Eat.Save.

The campaign addresses the huge annual wastage and losses in food, which, if conserved, would release a large quantity of food as well as reduce the overall carbon footprint. The campaign aims to bring about awareness in countries with lifestyles resulting in food wastage. It also aims to empower people to make informed choices about the food they eat so as to reduce the overall ecological impact due to the worldwide production of food items. World Environment Day (WED) is observed on June 5 every year to promote awareness on the importance of preserving our biodiversity, the need to identify problems related to the environment and ways to take corrective action. It was on this day in the year 1972 that the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was formed. First celebrated in 1973, World Environment Day, also popularly known as Environment Day, is a means to tackle environmental challenges that include climate change, global warming, disasters and conflicts, harmful substances, environmental governance, ecosystem management and resource efficiency.

World Environment Day has received tremendous support from the public, non-profit organizations and governments around the world. Various awareness campaigns – beach clean-ups, concerts, exhibits, film festivals, community events and much more – are organized to spread the message, which is to improve the quality of life of all living beings on this planet without harming nature. All the activities of World Environment Day are carried out to spread eco-awareness and increase green footprint.

Each year, World Environment Day is hosted in a different city with a different theme for one week that kicks off on June 5. A World Environment Day theme is selected along with an Environment Day slogan, which aims to emphasize the importance of protecting our planet and promote an understanding that they each individually can play a significant and effective role in tackling environmental issues.

With blogs becoming an effective means of communication, on World Environment Day, the UNEP has started organizing blogging competitions to encourage people to protect the environment. Thousands of entries were received this year from different parts of the world. After reviewing all entries, budding engineer, Ximena Prugue of Florida, USA, was declared the winner for her blog on the effects of deforestation in rural India.

The UNEP also confers international awards – The ‘Champions of the Earth’, ‘UNEP Sasakawa Prize’, ‘The Seeds Awards’, among others – to individuals or organizations on World Environment Day based on their innovation, vision and performance in protecting or benefiting the environment.

I’m not sure what I would have done if I had known, but wasting food, especially the stuff people throw away based on the ‘use-by date’ rather than using their own common sense and judgement, and the mountains of good food ‘skipped’ by supermarkets is one of those subjects that does baffle and frustrate me. Anyway, Happy World Environment to us all – clean plates tonight, please ……

Bryn Euryn a walk of several parts. Part 2 – Rare Rockroses

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, Wildflowers of Wales

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Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, common rockrose, helianthemum canum, helianthemum chemaecistus, hoary rockrose, wildflowers of Bryn Euryn, wildflowers with yellow flowers

I reluctantly left the Long-tailed Tits to their labours and headed up though the woods towards the summit.

Emerging from the shelter of the trees near the summit of the hill I was confronted by a chilly breeze and on another day would have headed for the more sheltered side, but I wanted to see the Rockroses, which are at their best and most prolific on the exposed limestone cliff on this side. Happily the reward was well worth putting up with a bit of discomfort for; the sunshine yellow flowers on the edge of the cliff and cascading down the rocky hillside were spectacular.

The stiff breeze made focusing on the flowers in the following photographs a bit tricky though. The Latin name Helianthemum translates as sun flower, which refers to the flower’s habit of opening up on sunny days and closing on sunless ones. Being very sunny today there was a profusion of blooms but those out in the open were waving about, so I tried for ones in the shelter of rocks which were then shaded.

Cliff smothered with golden rockroses-Bryn Euryn, North Wales

Large clumps of Rockroses spilling down the exposed limestone

There are two species of Rockrose found here; one is the Common Rockrose –Helianthemum nummularium and the other is a species more common to the Mediterranean than the UK, the Hoary Rockrose Helianthemun canum, which is one of the specialty plants of this reserve.

Common Rockrose-Helianthemum chemaecistus

The Common Rockrose is an evergreen plant, an undershrub, usually prostrate and spreading. The small leaves are a dark grey-green above and grey-white and woolly-hairy beneath. Flowering from April-July, it is common on chalk downs and an occasional plant in other types of grassland, but always on dry and base-rich soil.

Rockrose flower with two tiny and one minuscule beetle

Rockrose flower dotted with two tiny and one minuscule beetle

The flowers of the native Rockrose are usually bright sunshine yellow, but may also be darker gold or even pale orange. Flowers are 12-20mm across, with 5 slightly crinkled petals. Each flower last only a day, but there are many of them. In the flower centre is a tight cluster of stamens.

Common Rockrose is a good provider of nectar for various species of bee and is also the foodplant of several species of moths and butterflies such as the Brown Argus, Green Hairstreak and the rare Silver-studded Blue. Many of the flowers I looked closely at today were playing host to at least one, usually more tiny little beetles.

Hoary Rockrose – Helianthemum canum (L.) Baumg

Status: scarce

Hoary Rockrose flowers

As I already mentioned, the Hoary Rockrose is one of the specialty plants growing on Bryn Euryn and its major British stronghold is located just a few miles away on the Great Orme in Llandudno. The plant is restricted to Carboniferous limestone. It is found on rocky outcrops and on the face of scars and cliffs, often on the upper parts of outcrops and in sparse vegetation on shallow soil near the edges of cliffs. It can be very abundant on steep, rocky, exposed, often south to west-facing sites, of 0-540m, which are prone to summer drought, which fits the location in which plants are most prolific here on the Bryn.

Hoary Rockrose-Helianthemum canum

H. canum is a shrubby, mat-forming perennial. Plants flower freely and set abundant seed unless they are subjected to particularly heavy grazing. There is no specialised means of dispersal. Seeds produced in one summer germinate gradually over a long period but the successful establishment of seedlings requires a period of damp weather long enough for young plants to develop a root system which will withstand subsequent drought (Griffiths & Proctor 1956).

Hoary Rockrose flowers

The flowers are smaller than those of the Common Rockrose, just 8-15mm across, but there are many more of them.

There are five slightly crinkled petals and at the centre of each flower there is a crowded cluster of golden stamens.

Factual extracts are from : The Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora http://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/index.php?q=plant/helianthemum-oelandicum

Bryn Euryn – a walk of several parts. Part 1

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by theresagreen in bird's nests, Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, woodland birds

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aegithalos caudatus, ash tree keys, bird's nests, Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, cuckoo flower, lady's smock, long-tailed tit, long-tailed tit's nest

We had one day of decent weather last week and I grabbed the opportunity to walk up to and around ‘the Bryn‘. I hadn’t been there for ages and I knew if I didn’t get there soon I would miss the Early Purple Orchids and Cowslips that grace this special place at this time of the year. It was sunny but a north wind kept the ambient air temperature cool to outright chilly in the open, but in more sheltered spots it was pleasant and almost felt spring-like. The open grassy meadow area in front of the car park was just such a spot today and there were actually butterflies to watch, all whites, definitely some small and some green-veined whites, but as there was also a solitary male orange-tip making territorial laps at speed, it is possible there were females of that species too, they don’t have the distinctive orange wing tips so are harder to identify in flight.

Bunches of ‘keys’ are already forming on this tree and the leaves are well grown

I hoped the Orange Tip would stop long enough to have his picture taken, so whilst waiting for him to come back to this part of his circuit, which he did several times, I wandered along the field edge to see what progress the plants were making. There are many Ash trees in the woodland of this site and it is interesting to note the difference in the rate of growth of new foliage on trees which can vary significantly, even on trees that are quite close together. I am paying more attention to Ash trees now, knowing that they are under threat from the killer fungus chalara fraxinea, appreciating their beauty while I still have the chance while dreading that they may be stricken with it.

This link shows the signs of the disease to look out for: http://visitwoods.org.uk/en/visit-woods/for-nature/Documents/symptoms-chalara-dieback-ash.pdf

White-flowered Valerian

The vegetation along the field edge is already tall, with much on the point of flowering, although there was little of interest to waylay the speeding Orange Tip. He was almost tempted by what I think was a white flowered Valerian, settling on it for a few seconds only before spotting a Small White in his airspace and rocketing after it. I felt sure he’d stop to rest or feed eventually, watching and waiting for quite a while hoping for a photo opportunity, but he was clearly on duty and intent on seeing off all interlopers. I hadn’t realised how territorial and feisty this species was until now. I got tired way before he did, but thought it worth looking for some Lady’s Smock flowers, a foodplant of the species’ larva and one of the few flowers the adults do sometimes pause to take nectar from. I did find some, but only a couple of stems of flowers and no sign of the butterfly anywhere near.

Lady’s Smock, Cuckoo Flower-Cardamine pratensis

As I bent down to get an image of the flower I caught a glimpse of a bird passing me by very closely and stood up to see a lovely Long-tailed Tit at just about my eye-level (not very high then), perched on a dried stem about 2 metres or less in front of me and with its beak full of small flies.

A Long-tailed Tit with her beak full of small flies

To be honest, the encounter took me so much by surprise that it took a moment for it to register that it was indeed Long-tailed Tit, let alone for it to occur to me that the poor bird was agitated by my presence because the flies were intended to be fed her nestlings. I stood still and she flitted over to the cover of a nearby small tree, then after a moment or two began to make her way to the back of the wire fence, then through a tangle of brambles to the most beautiful nest. I was thrilled to see it as I’d never seen one closely before; they are usually deeper into a tangle of brambles, so at the same time I felt concern at the location of this one; it seemed very vulnerable and if I spotted it fairly easily then so could potential predators. Long-tailed tit nests are known to suffer high rates of predation with only 17% of them being successful.

The Long-tailed Tit at the nest

Long-tailed Tits make magical nests from materials you could almost imagine being called for in a spell; spider egg cocoons and moss, lichen and feathers, some 6,000 tiny pieces required for the average construction. The moss and spider silk provide the structural stability, they are pieced together to form a mesh with the tiny leaves of the moss acting as hooks and the spider silk of the egg cocoons providing the loops, which has been described as working in a similar way to velcro. The outside of the nest is covered with hundreds of flakes of pale green-grey lichens to provide camouflage and the inside lined with around 2,000 downy feathers to insulate the nest. The end result is a lightweight elastic sac with a small, round entrance placed at the top, which is suspended either low in a gorse or bramble bush, less than 3m off the ground, or occasionally high up in the forks of tree branches.

Despite its apparent fragility the nest is strong due to the spider silk and the elasticity of the structure allows it to expand as the nestlings grow, so is always the perfect size. This nest was fairly bulging, so I imagine the young ones were quite well grown and that there were several of them in there.

A close view of the exquisite nest and young ones peeking out

I stood rooted to the spot watching as both parent birds hunted for food for their young ones. they were not travelling far, one was mainly foraging in the lower branches of a tree within a few metres of one side of the nest and the other in another tree a similar distance away to the other side. That same one, which is the one I photographed also seemed to be flying up from the fence pursuing flies on the wing.

A Long-tailed Tit with a beak full of small flies waiting a short distance from the nest

I would have loves to have stayed and watched for longer, but although the birds carried on about their work despite me, they were clearly wary and I left them in peace to carry on while I continued with my walk.

Hungry Long-tailed Tit nestlings looking quite well-grown

This link is to a wonderful video of a Long-tailed Tit nest and narrative from Iolo Williams’ Secret Life of Birds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Long-tailed_Tit#p00dxvfq

Seven days later…

23 Thursday May 2013

Posted by theresagreen in nature of woodlands, nature photography

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

ash leaves, dog mercury, Fairy Glen, garlic mustard, herb robert, shades of green, speedwell, spring flowers, woodland flowers

It would seem Mother Nature has finally reached the point at which she is fed up holding back until we get a decent spell of warmer weather to declare it really is Spring, and decided to go for it regardless. In just seven days the progress of new growth bursting forth has been almost unbelievable and in Fairy Glen, the energy output is almost tangible.

I never cease to be amazed by the sheer number of shades of green, the beautiful shapes and textures of leaves.

Shiny new ash leaves

soft new beech leaves shaking out the wrinkles

Sycamores already have flowers

holly leaves

blackthorn blossom is almost over now

Ferns are stretching upwards and unfurling cautiously, reluctant to unclench their delicate tips until they’re sure its warm enough.

fern fronds are tall and almost unfurled

Plants on the woodland floor know their days in the sunlight are numbered and are rushing to flower; some such as the dog’s mercury are almost done already.

dog’s mercury

garlic mustard

Here and there the palette of greens is highlighted with delicate touches of pink and blue.

herb robert

speedwell

I could be happy living in a permanent state of Spring.

Spring has finally arrived in Fairy Glen

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by theresagreen in Local Nature Reserves, Nature of Wales, nature of woodlands, nature photography

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

cuckoo pint, dog violet, Fairy Glen, horsetail, ivy-leaved toadflax, marsh marigold, min-y-don, osmia rufa, Pied Wagtail, ramsons, red mason bee, river Colwyn, song thrush, spring flowers

Last Friday was a day typical of our Spring so far this year, overcast, showery and cool, but as I began driving home at lunchtime the sun came out, so I stopped by the little bridge at Min-y-Don woods as I often do, just to have a quick look at whatever is about. Today that was small birds flying back and forth across the river that I thought may have been Chiffchaff, but turned out to be House Sparrows taking drinks and chasing flies over the water. Then near the bend in the river I caught another flash of bird movement that made me think ‘grey wagtail’. Of course I had to follow it, being ever hopeful of a good photo opportunity. I finally caught up with the bird and saw it was actually a Pied Wagtail that was by now intent enough on catching insects not to be too disturbed by my presence.

A Pied Wagtail adeptly catching flies

Maybe he has a nest nearby and was out hunting for food to feed young ones, or maybe because he was alone, perhaps has a mate still sitting on eggs and he was feeding her, or, maybe he was simply feeding himself. Whatever his aims, he was very entertaining to watch and seemed to be catching plenty of insects.

Pied Wagtail – Motecilla yarellii

A couple passing by stopped to see what I was photographing and told me they had seen the grey wagtails further upstream, so I had to carry on walking then, just in case.

On the way up to Fairy Glen my eye was caught by a mass of bright green liverwort at the mouth of a drainpipe, giving the impression it was cascading out like water.

Liverwort at the mouth of a drain pipe

Flowers are generally late this year, but they are making up for lost time now. On the stone walls bounding the river and roadside, the pretty, albeit non-native Ivy-leaved Toadflax flourishes.

Ivy-leaved Toadflax- cymbalaria muralis. A native of Mediterranean Europe, but widely naturalised elsewhere

And here and there the darker purple-blue blooms of the Common Dog Violet peeked out.

Common dog-violet – Viola riviana with its pretty heart-shaped leaves

Garlic mustard is beginning to show its modest white flowers; I love the shape and texture of its leaves too.

Garlic Mustard – Alliaria petiolata

Just inside the woodland of the Glen a few stands of graceful bluebells arch up through the masses of almost-done lesser celandines, surrounded by encroaching wild garlic.

Bluebell – Hyacynthoides non-scripta

Further into the woodland the air was filled with the pungent scent of masses of ramsons, or wild-garlic, just reaching the peak of its flowering. Great swathes of it flow down the sloping riverbank and it carpets much of the ground beneath the trees too, to the apparent delight of a host of nectar-seeking insects.

Ramsons, Wild Garlic – Allium ursinum

Ramsons flowers and buds

I watched big beautiful bumblebees, several different species of hoverfly and some little bees that I didn’t recognise visiting the starry white flowers. Looking afterwards at the photographs and checking several identification books and websites, I have ended up with mason bees. If anyone knows better, please let me know.

One of a number of tiny mason bees feasting on the nectar of the wild garlic flowers

Red Mason Bee – Osmia rufa

One of the little bees (male), pausing briefly to soak up some warmth

Description:

The male bees

are smaller than the females at

just 6 -11 mm long. Both

sexes

are covered in dense gingery hairs, the male with white tufts on the head while the female’s head is black.

Habitat:

Around suitable nesting sites.

The Red Mason Bee is active from early spring, the male being the first to appear when the weather becomes mild in March, the female emerging later. Like all bees it feeds on pollen.

Life History: This is a solitary bee, each nest being the work of a single female working alone. They nest in pre-existing cavities such as hollow plant stems, old garden canes, air bricks, and even old nail holes in fence posts, lining the inside of the cavity with mud.

There were birds singing, I heard chiffchaff, blackbird, robin and wren, but most of those I saw, including blue tits, great tits and a coal tit seemed more intent on hunting for insects, so I imagine there are gaping little beaks to fill.

fern frond unfurling amongst the wild garlic

An hour had passed by without me even noticing and I could have stayed even longer, but there began to be quite a few people about keeping the wildlife more discreet in their activities, so I started to make tracks back; I would have missed the sight of a lovely song thrush if I’d kept going.

Song Thrush with what I think is a worm

Walking back towards Min-y-Don I took a detour up and around one of the other paths and found yet more interesting plants to distract me.

A strange plant with many names-Lords & Ladies, Jack-in-the-Pulpit,Cuckoo Pint or Wild Arum – Arum maculatum

Horsetail- Equisetum

Sunlight catching the almost-orange petals of a Welsh Poppy-Mecanopsis cambrica

Kingcups, or marsh maraigolds reflected in a pool of water

Golden kingcups, or Marsh Marigolds-Calthea palustris reflected in a pool of water

And finally an impressive clump of dock that has found purchase in mud on the shallow edge of the river. I know it’s not a desirable plant, but it looked quite well there with its big shapely leaves.

Dock

a crow strutting along the river-wall, feathers gleaming with shades of purple and green

Two hours after setting off for one photograph I was on the way back home, but couldn’t resist the sight of rabbits amongst the mass of primroses on the embankment, which is where the current page header came from.

bunnies amongst the primroses

Back at home a large white butterfly was nectaring on a dandelion, the first I’ve seen so far this year. Large white that is, not dandelion, whose population seems to have boomed this year. I have never seen so many.